Hip Hip....... Ive made it to another post, that's a 50% improvement on last time lol.

 Clarity stamps, stencils and blending brushes with die based inks. Sue Wilson dies. 

To make this one I placed the house stencil down first and brushed blue and yellow ink through the design. 

I removed the stencil then placed the inner stencil in place and lightly brushed black ink around it. 

Removed that stencil then placed the inner stencil from the countryside landscape in place and brushed more black ink round it. 

Lastly I stamped the animals in place.

 I used the ever popular Clarity Groovi system for this one. Such a clever system and so easy. It's opened up parchment craft to so many people who previously didn't think they could do it, didn't have time or had no interest because it always seemed old fashioned and not for them. Clarity have made the designs modern and funky and so interchangeable. And its speeded up tracing your design no end.  There's a growing number of children grooving away now too, it cant be a bad thing can it? I have discovered that Kuretake Zig Brushable pens work pretty well on the parchment. Alcohol pens tend to go streaky, and water-based pens take ages to dry so you smudge them if your not really careful, but the brushables are permanent and fast drying even though they are water-based ink. A great discovery for me and that's what I used on this sample because I wanted strong colours to show through the parchment. It works well I think.

This was a card I made with Polkadoodles stamp soup sets. Its a bit of a mixture of Lavender Tea and Lemonade Fizz. If you haven't seen these yet and you are a stamper its well worth checking them out. its all elements, such as leaves and petals etc and you make up your own designs as you like.  I stamped these with versamark ink and clear embossing ink onto black card.  Then I used Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints over the top.  I love this technique, you can get such fantastic and bold results. The background mounted layer is a Cosmic Shimmer spritzer on white card. 

That's it for this post, thank you for popping by xxx

I'm back, I should be working but I'm doing a little bit of avoidance (we all do it sometimes). My workroom needs a really good clean up before I can work and I'm really not in the mood for trying to sort it all out and put it away. I'm also feeling a tad jaded having woken up at 4 this morning sneezing my head off and feeling a bit achy, blurgh I don't have tome to be ill, it can just go away (polite version).

Thank you for all the lovely feedback from my C&C shows and welcome to my new followers, yes I did notice you there, thank you.  You will see I'm not a daily blogger, time slips away from me I'm afraid so I blog as and when I get some spare time, but there's usually quiet a few samples to show you when I do.

While I'm here just a reminder that you can gets lots of inspiration for the Polka Doodles blog, the Studio 12 Blog, Kuretakes blog and Creative Expressions blog, not to mention the lovely Hels Sheridan, Sue Wilson and Julia Watts.

I am as usual a bit behind and on this post is all the samples from my Kuretake show last week. Lots of alcohol inks ones, I could have done the whole hour show just showing you ways to use them (I do love them) and ditto with the Art and Graphic pens, sooo lush.  Seriously in my humble opinion they are one of the best on the market for both art work and crafting.  Kuretake have been making pens and inks for over 100 years and all their products are of the highest quality you can find.  If I didn't like them or I thought they were inferior I really wouldn't recommend them, they are well worth a try if you haven't used any yet.

Right enough waffle, here are the samples

Very inexpensive silver baubles, apply the alcohol ink with a felt applicator.  You can leave them as is or add peel offs, stickers or glitter/stickles for extra decoration.

Art and Graphic pens used directly onto rubber stamps.  The same stamp and pens but all four stamped different ways.  the 1st one I spritzed the stamp before I stamped it and you get a love watercolour effect.  The 2nd I spritzed the paper with water before I stamped, then when it was dry I over stamped it to add the detail back in.  The 3rd I stamped then went in with a damp paintbrush and pulled the colour out.  The 4th I stamped then spritzed with water.  I used Creative Expressions stamps.

Art and graphic pens used on a gift bag.  I drew a small swirl with the fine point nib, then went round that with the brush tip, just laying the tip on the paper to get the petal shapes.

Art and Graphic used directly on the rubber stamps then I've pulled out the colours with a paintbrush.  I made a wash but scribbling on a non porous surface and adding a bit of water for the heart and the same for the splatters which was done with an old toothbrush dipped in the wash and you run your finger across the bristles.  You can use a poky tool, lollipop stick etc if you don't like getting dirty fingers.  Tatty Button stamps used

Art and Graphic pens used as water colours, scribble on a non porous surface and add water.  Creative Expressions stamp used

Art and Graphic pens direct to the stamps, and scribbled onto a craft sheet, spritzed with water and the card swooshed around in it to make the lovey soft backgrounds.  Creative Expressions stamps used.

Art and Graphic pens used to watercolour the main stamped image, and direct on the stamp for the boarder with the colour pulled out.  Creative Expressions stamps used

KureColor inks (alcohol inks) applied with felt applicator and stamped with using a stazon inkpad.  Swirls are Creative expressions and the Santa rubber stamp is an old stamp and I can't remember who by now.  He has popped up recently with a couple of companies though, Inkadinkadoo (clear) and possibly DoCrafts (clear)

Alcohol inks on clarity cardstock after it was embossed. The coating does crack and the ink seeps into the paper fibres giving a shadow effect.

 Alcohol inks on Acetate and glossy card (inside card).  Spellbinder dies used.

Alcohol inks on embossed glossy card, mirri card and a coloured bottle top. Creative Expressions stamps

Lots of layers on here, glossy card, distress inks first then background stamping (use waterbased inkpads and dry) then stamp and emboss the main image with clear ink and powder, then apply alcohol ink and use blender on cotton buds to clean the ink off the embossed stamp, then repeat stamp round with permanent inkpads.   Creative Expressions stamps and the harlequin stamp is Dimension Fourth

Lots of layers here too. the same first three stages of above, then work out where you want your main image and  drip a few drops of blender onto the piece and stamp your main image with permanent ink.  Then over stamp to your hearts content. Creative Expressions stamps.  Oh and before I forget, one of the matted layers is Tim Holtz Glasiene paper, screw it up and flatten back out then apply the alcohol inks, both sides look amazing, I used the wrong side because I liked all the coloured creases.

 

Alcohol inks on Clarity and Glossy card for some variation. On the main image I inked with distress inkpads and repeat stamped a leaf with the same inkpad.  The fem is clear embossing powder that I've cleaned the alcohol ink off with the blender.

KureColor pens (alcohol ink pens)  Colouring and blending with the pens.  Don't forget to stamp your image with a water based inkpad.  Polka Doodles stamps (one of my faves without a doubt, and I'm not even a character stamper normally)

Kurecolor pens for an antiquy feel. HOTP papers and the stamp is old and I can't remember by who, could be stampers anonymous though

 

Alcohol pens on the angel, the diecut text and on the wooden embellies (glittered after).  DCWV paper and Polka Doodles rubber stamp. this isn't one of my fave cards I must admit, I'm really not a bright pink lover, but if you like pink and alternative xmas colours it could be for you.

Alcohol pens used with a Joanna Sheen stamp (sooo cute, I love this image).  Spelldinder and sizzix dies and Polka Doodles digi papers and tags.

Alcohol pens on the image and the die cut trees. Polka Doodles Stamp, 7 Gypsies papers, spellbinders and sizzix dies.

Alcohol inks on a silver gift box and glossy paper for the daisies.  the top piece is embossed with a Couture Creations folder but you can't see it that well in the photos.

 

Phew that's it for now, next time I'll post all the samples from the Creative Expressions shows, I had fun making them too.   I do love my job despite any moaning lol.

Hello there, here I am again and I have some news.  I've been asked to do some Create and Craft shows by Creative Expressions and Kuretake, so including the deColourant shows I already do I'm going to be clocking up few miles driving backwards and forwards .  Keep an eye on left side bar for dates etc.

Nikky has a fabulous competition this month over at the Studio 12 blog, she's giving away £50 worth of Polka Doodles goodies, so head on over to the blog and get entering, you never know you may just be the lucky one.  There's also an international design team call for the Polka Doodles DT. There's still some time to apply so if you live outside the UK and fancy a shot send your details to Nikky.

 

I'll be at Monkton Elm Garden Centre Taunton next Saturday demonstrating.  It's a lovely place to visit and it has a fantastic demo area.  If you live in the area and have some free time pop along and say hi.

A Couple of DT cards for Studio 12.  Both use the Studio 12 Picknix Gingerbread Twist CD 

Creative Expressions samples from this weekends demo

That special touch masks, clear embossing powder, distress inkpads

That special touch masks, Couture Creations embossing folder, clear embossing powder, Cosmic Shimmer vintage mica spray, Cosmic Shimmer pearl pva

That Special Touch mask, Creative Expressions stamps, ribbon, twine, embossing powders. sparkler and hat pin, distress inkpads, Spellbinders die, TH bulldog clips and Vintaj patina's

 Creative Expressions stamps, clear embossing powder, pearl pva and vintage ribbon, Spellbinders die and distress inkpad

Creative Expressions stamps, clear and white embossing powders and twine, Spellbinders die, distress inkpad, distress markers, TH xmas embellishment and black archival inkpad

Creative Expressions stamp, ribbon and embossing powder, Spellbinders dies archival inkpad and distress inkpad

Creative Expressions stamps, vintage ribbon, pearl pva and micro beads, archival inkpad and adirondack inkpads

Creative Expressions stamps, embossing powder, ribbon, metal embellishments and embossing folder, distress markers, distress inkpads and spellbinders die

Some deColourant samples from the last C&C show

The picture is on Handmade paper which has been coloured with Kuretake Art and Graphic pens. I used deColourant, deColourant plus stamps and Thermafax screen

 

You can get fantastic detail with the screens although it's not showing that well in the photo

Patterns made with masking tape

These are the trousers I did on the show before, they've been ironed properly now so you can really see the design

 A pillow case using de\Colourant and a Thermafax screen

 

The fabric panel before it was mounted on the card and embellished.  Stamps and hand painting with deColourant and deColourant plus

Hand painted deColourant plus and stamped deColourant on inked card

Thermafax Screens on handmade paper using deColourant plus.

Well I'm off to bed now, my body clock is all up the creak again.  I do hate it when the clock changes.

Happy crafting.